“Pink Moon” by Nick Drake - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1972Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die external-link.png

TJR says

Eschewing the production embellishments of his previous works, Nick decided that he would take the old fashioned singer-songwriter approach for his next release and “Pink Moon” was as basic as basic could be, just he and an engineer, John Wood, recorded in next to no time at all, over the course of two late night sessions at the tail end of October 1971. Pretty melancholia rules the roost, but “Pink Moon” is not a patch on his first two LPs in terms of being uplifting and filling the soul. In short, he sounds hopelessly defeated. That said, despite his well-documented battle with the debilitating effects of a depressed mind, the serenity and peacefulness is quite remarkable. The one which stands out most for me is “Know” – it’s a blues-moan which, it seems to me, comes closest to communicating his pain inside: “Know that I love you, Know I don't care, Know that I see you, Know I'm not there” It’s a nothing song on the face of it – but he’s revealing his anguish at his inability to connect. It leads in to two of the albums genuinely great songs; “Parasite”, where the chords and strumming get slightly darker and angrier, and “Free Ride”, another which seems to be more urgent and more agitated than the otherwise languid feeling of the album in general. There’s no doubting Nick Drake’s ability with guitar-picking, language and melody – but depression beat him and he sold himself short on his final long player. Still one of the best albums of 1972 mind… one Nick Drake is worth a hundred Elton John’s.

The Jukebox Rebel
24–Apr–2007

Tracklist
A1 [02:06] 6.6.png Nick Drake - Pink Moon (Nick Drake) Folk
A2 [02:43] 6.0.png Nick Drake - Place To Be (Nick Drake) Folk
A3 [02:02] 5.8.png Nick Drake - Road (Nick Drake) Folk
A4 [02:58] 5.6.png Nick Drake - Which Will (Nick Drake) Folk
A5 [01:23] 4.7.png Nick Drake - Horn (Nick Drake) Folk
A6 [03:57] 5.7.png Nick Drake - Things Behind The Sun (Nick Drake) Folk
B1 [02:26] 8.2.png Nick Drake - Know (Nick Drake) Blues / Rhythm n Blues
B2 [03:36] 7.5.png Nick Drake - Parasite (Nick Drake) Folk
B3 [03:06] 7.6.png Nick Drake - Free Ride (Nick Drake) Songwriter
B4 [01:37] 6.4.png Nick Drake - Harvest Breed (Nick Drake) Songwriter
B5 [02:30] 6.2.png Nick Drake - From The Morning (Nick Drake) Folk

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